Pete Gregson, Chair of Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR), writes:

On Sunday 22 September Labour Party member Pete Gregson had his banner taken down from outside the annual Labour Party conference. Why? The police agreed it was not anti-Semitic. When Zionists first started complaining about it, the police photographed it and referred it to their superiors. Not a problem, they said. The banner could stay.

But the Zionists, from the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) and the Sussex Friends of Israel (FoI) were incandescent with rage. Repeatedly they complained and when the police refused to act, they took the law into their own hands. Councillor Joshua Garfield from Newham Council rushed the banner and slashed it in two. The police apprehended him and removed the large sharp scissors he had used and took his details. (Later Garfield boasted about it on Twitter.)

Gregson and the secretary of Labour Against the Witch-Hunt repaired it. Yet again it was attacked, ripped in half again by another Zionist. It was repaired again. At this point local hoodlum Simon Cobbs (Founder of Sussex Friends of Israel and ex-convict of the prison in Exeter) stood spread-eagled before it and refused to move. After an hour of this he moved away, whereupon another extremist rushed the banner and this time ripped it in several places. On each occasion Gregson repaired the banner and on each occasion the police caught the assailant and took their details. The police asked Gregson if he would consider taking down the banner. He said he would not do this, explaining that this was a matter of freedom of speech. He was in a public space, the banner was not anti-Semitic.

Eventually a group of Zionists stood before the banner and created a scene, arguing and shouting with those who defended the banner, supporters of free speech. At a certain point the police made the decision that a possible public order offence had been committed – by Gregson! They removed the banner and took it away. The police explained that it was now evidence in a potential public order charge – against Gregson!

It would appear the police had been bullied into making a decision into taking Gregson’s banner down on the grounds that he had committed a public order offence, rather than those who had been harassing and attacking him, and calling him an anti-Semite.

Later that day, Jeremy Corbyn waded in. He tweeted: “I’m disgusted that this banner was displayed near our #Lab19 conference centre. We asked the police to remove it and I’m glad they did. This kind of antisemitic poison has no place whatsoever in our society.” This brought forward 1,800 responses, many from people who couldn’t see anything anti-Semitic about the banner at all. (You can read the responses to Corbyn’s tweet here.)

On Monday 23 September Gregson attended a voluntary interview at the John Street police station where he was interviewed under caution with the duty solicitor present. He explained what the banner was about and why he had brought it to Brighton, to promote political discussion on the weaponisation of anti-Semitism. He explained about the Al-Jazeera documentary. “The Lobby”, on which the banner was based. It portrayed how Israel funds the take-down of politicians sympathetic to Palestine, using groups such as the JLM and the FoI.

Gregson explained the banner had particular relevance at this time. An election was coming and that once the date was announced, newspapers would be full of accusations of anti-Semitism aimed at Labour politicians who have dared to criticise Israel, in an effort to undermine their vote. Gregson thought it important to point out the role a foreign country was having in British electoral affairs. He concluded by telling the police that he was disappointed in them for undermining his freedom of speech.

The police must now decide if they will ask the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute; it is likely to be months before a decision is made. In the meantime, Gregson will pursue claims of criminal damage against those who attacked his banner and against the police for taking it down, for the Human Rights Act of 1998 – Article 10 protects his right to hold his own opinions and to express them freely without government interference, including through works of art.

The next day, Rabbi Aharon Cohen of the Neturei Karta spoke to Gregson and gave his view that he could not fathom any way that the banner was anti-Semitic.

Many are dumbfounded at Corbyn’s tweet describing it as such. When the film was shown in 2017, its fairness and accuracy was supported by OFCOM and Corbyn called for an investigation, so he knew that Israel pumps millions of pounds into Zionist defamation activities in the UK with the sole aim of shutting down any debate on Israel’s racist treatment of Arabs and Christians.

However, according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, adopted by most political parties, to say that Israel is a racist endeavour is now seen as prejudice against Jews. The banner says: “IHRA: tell the NEC how you feel”, because Gregson wanted Labour members to tell the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to abandon the IHRA definition they adopted a year ago, an action to which Corbyn himself objected. Party members are now beholden to a definition whereby any activist criticising Israel as racist becomes an anti-Semite, a plainly ludicrous claim. This enables Zionists to make endless charges of anti-Semitism against anti-apartheid activists.

Most of these accusations come from the JLM, registered as a socialist society affiliated to Labour. Gregson is chair of Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR), a group of Labour Party activists which sees Zionism as racism and who want to end its influence, seeking to get the JLM disaffiliated. At the Labour conference, they distributed 1,500 flyers to party members calling for this, highlighting the JLM’s role in undermining any politician who supports Palestine and criticises Israel.

Corbyn’s pro-Palestine stance has drawn JLM’s ire and the group has declared Corbyn “unfit to be prime minister”. It scores Labour candidates seeking election according to their level of support for Israel, working with the media to undermine those whom they don’t like or who support Corbyn. One doesn’t have to be either Jewish or in the Labour Party to be in the JLM.

Labour’s founding planks are fairness, equality and social justice. LAZIR points out that the JLM’s sole focus is on protecting Israel, and that it shares none of Labour’s values in its disregard for Palestinian rights.

[Jon] Lansman is Momentum leader and the man responsible for getting the IHRA definition adopted by Labour in 2018. He is a strong supporter of Israel and spent years on a kibbutz.

Gregson emailed Corbyn in response to the latter’s tweet, pointing out Rabbi Aharon Cohen’s views and that Corbyn himself had called for an investigation into Israel’s undermining of UK politicians; he had also not supported Labour adopting the full IHRA definition. Gregson copied in all NEC members and drew this response from Jon Lansman: “I do not wish to receive any more of your messages. Your obsessive hatred of those you call “Zionists” marks you out as an anti-Semite. To be clear, you do not have my permission to retain my contact details so please delete them and never contact me again.”

Lansman is Momentum leader and the man responsible for getting the IHRA definition adopted by Labour in 2018. He is a strong supporter of Israel and spent years on a kibbutz. He is also one of the nine Constituency Labour Party (CLP) representatives on the NEC and as such was elected to represent the views of CLP members, including Gregson. Gregson considers that as his representative, Lansman has to accept that part of his role is to receive communications on Labour Party matters from members.

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, couldn’t resist wading in as well, saying in the Jewish Chronicle he was furious about this “deliberate intimidation of Jewish Labour members at the conference”. He said “Regardless of where and why it is outrageous to come to a conference of a democratic party and to intimidate people who are just trying to make the world a better place.” Gregson does not consider Watson’s unbridled support for Israel is in any way making the world better.

Gregson is now in discussion with his solicitors; he will seek redress through the courts.

More on this, including the links to the many publications which carried the story, can be found here.

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Pete Gregson can be contacted on +44 (0)758 472 2191